Election update: Yee leads Hansen by 46 votes in District 4 race

Joe Yee leads Steve Hansen by 46 votes for the District 4 City Council seat after the latest ballot count update released Friday afternoon.

It’s undetermined when the final vote tally will be finished, and the county has 28 days from the date of the election to produce a winner.

"Today’s update is good news, however there is still about 130,000 ballots to count, countywide," Yee said. "I’m hopeful, but there are still a few weeks to go before this election is certified."

Most of the 130,000 ballots Yee referenced will not be from District 4 voters, but outstanding District 4 votes could change the close race.

"This is a small swing, and it’s important not to read read much into the ups and downs," Hansen said. "Let’s stay focused on the end goal of ensuring every vote is counted in a fair and transparent manner."

Election night proved inconclusive for the two candidates as Yee led in early returns, but only by a slim margin. At one point, Yee led by a mere six votes before Hansen took the lead with the last update to come in early Wednesday morning.

For the past two days, the figures had shown Hansen leading by 28 votes.

The winner of the race will represent downtown, Midtown, Land Park and a few areas north of the rivers, including Willowcreek.

In the District 2 City Council Race, Rob Kerth extended his lead over Allen Warren, taking a lead of 215 votes.

Another update will come Tuesday, and additional updates will come every other business day after that.

Related

Great news!

R.V. Scheide

Anticipation …

Joe is my man!

Sac Press takes the lead as a timely news source. Today, Saturday Nov. 11, the Sac Bee is still posting results as of Nov. 7, 3AM.

R.V. Scheide

I just noticed, 130,000 votes left to count? WTF? They know 57 percent of Sacramento voters register to vote by mail. Why weren’t they ready for this?

Jon Harlow

VBMs pose two challenges – you either verify them when they are dropped off or after they are dropped off. If you verify them while they are being dropped off, large waiting lines are created. If you wait to verify them after they are dropped off, a several week count is created.

Virtually all my coworkers who got vote by mail ballots dropped them off at the polling station on the day of the election.

On Friday, I observed the signature verification process. While interesting, (for about 5 minutes) my guess is that about 10% to 15% of the ballots are put into the “challenge” category because the VBM signature doesn’t match the original VBM registration. This categorization is made by county employees, not by the candidate’s representatives.

I’m sure that the voter who submits a ballot that is “challenged” by a county worker will never know that their vote didn’t count. Some signatures don’t match at all, maybe filled out and signed out by a spouse or parent, clearly unacceptable. Some signatures are closer, maybe scribbled quickly or how one signs has changed over the years. At the polling place, you’re certain your vote counts. By mail, you can never be sure.

What I learned: avoid submitting a VBM unless you’re certain your signature will match what’s on file. When did you create the original signature? When you were 18 and are now 32? Were you in a rush to the finish the ballot and signed differently? Of course the idea of VBM is great, but the system is far from perfect.

(BTW, my post in not way should be disparaging of the county workers; they seemed to take their jobs very seriously).

Regardless, lets hope that one of the D4 candidates wins by more than 1%! (200 – 250 votes). I believe, though not certain, that if the 1% threshold is not reached there will be an automatic recount. I can’t imagine reviewing all of the challenged ballots and bickering over signatures and “voter’s intent.”